Small Things

The 21″ telescope on campus recently got an upgrade.
Or, more precisely, the observatory got an upgrade: light bulbs.
Due to various mishaps over the last few years, the incandescent-bulbs-dipped-in-red-paint have burnt out, shattered, or otherwise stopped working. They’ve been replaced with red-tinted CFL bulbs, which run a lot cooler, and have the tinting applied at the factory. Presumably they’re designed to deal with the extra insulation of the red coating without overheating.
That, and one of the PhD students put a red rope light around the elevated platform and steps, so undergrads coming to observe for their classes don’t trip and die on the steps.
Before, it was difficult and dangerous to negotiate the observatory floor due to poor lighting. Now it’s downright festive.
Who knew that such small improvements would be so nice?

1 thought on “Small Things”

Nah, I liked the good old days when I had to kill myself by falling on random sharp implements six times before I could cross the room to grab the eyepieces. Everything’s so easy now, you just don’t appreciate it as much this way.